Bill limiting vaccine exemptions at moment of truth

Kelly Trutter of Lincoln (Placer County), an opponent of requiring vaccination, reacts after lawmakers delayed the vote on the bill at the Capitol.

Kelly Trutter of Lincoln (Placer County), an opponent of requiring vaccination, reacts after lawmakers delayed the vote on the bill at the Capitol.

Photo: Rich Pedroncelli, Associated Press

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Sen. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, right, and Sen. Ben Allen, D-Santa Monica, responds to questions concerning their measure requiring California schoolchildren to be vaccinated, Wednesday, April 15, 2015, during a hearing of the Senate Education Committee at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif. Pan and Allen agreed to postpone a vote on the bill until this week after several committee members expressed concerns. less

Visitors follow Mickey Mouse for photos at Disneyland, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2015, in Anaheim, Calif. At least seventy people were infected in a measles outbreak that led California public health officials to urge those who haven't been vaccinated against the disease, including children too young to be immunized. less

Visitors follow Mickey Mouse for photos at Disneyland, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2015, in Anaheim, Calif. At least seventy people were infected in a measles outbreak that led California public health officials to urge ... more

Photo: Jae C. Hong, Associated Press

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Jennifer Wonnacott, a supporter of a measure requiring California schoolchildren to get vaccinated, keeps an eye on her son, Gavin, at a hearing at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., Wednesday, April 8, 2015. Supporters and opponents of the SB277, by Sens. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento and Ben Allen, D-Santa Monica, spoke passionately during the hearing in the Senate Health Committee. less

Jennifer Wonnacott, a supporter of a measure requiring California schoolchildren to get vaccinated, keeps an eye on her son, Gavin, at a hearing at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., Wednesday, April 8, 2015. ... more

Photo: Rich Pedroncelli, Associated Press

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In this April 8, 2015 file photo, protesters rally against a measure requiring California schoolchildren to get vaccinated at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif. Senate Bill 277, a California bill that would sharply limit vaccination waivers after a Disneyland measles outbreak, has generated such an acidic debate that Sen. Richard Pan, the proposal's author, was under added security this week. less

In this April 8, 2015 file photo, protesters rally against a measure requiring California schoolchildren to get vaccinated at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif. Senate Bill 277, a California bill that would ... more

Photo: Rich Pedroncelli / Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press

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Zach Bingham, 6, sits among protest signs at against a measure requiring California schoolchildren to get vaccinated at a Capitol rally in Sacramento.

Zach Bingham, 6, sits among protest signs at against a measure requiring California schoolchildren to get vaccinated at a Capitol rally in Sacramento.

Photo: Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press

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Senate Minority Leader Bob Huff, D-Diamond Bar, questions Sen. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, and Sen. Ben Allen, D-Santa Monica, about their measure requiring California schoolchildren to be vaccinated during a hearing of the Senate Education Committee, Wednesday, April 15, 2015, at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif. Pan and Allen agreed to postpone a vote on the bill, SB277, until this week after several committee members expressed concerns about the unvaccinated children's rights to education. less

SACRAMENTO — A bill that would eliminate the option California parents use to skip their child’s school immunizations faces a do-or-die test Wednesday in a state Senate committee that came close to rejecting it last week.

The bill’s authors made two amendments in an effort to win committee support. One allows unvaccinated children to be home-schooled with non-family or non-household members, and the other allows students in recognized independent-study programs to skip required vaccinations.

Sens. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, and Ben Allen, D-Santa Monica, did not incorporate a religious exemption into the bill but said they were open to doing so. The senators were concerned that loosening the proposed restrictions would not accomplish the goal of driving up immunization rates to protect the greater public.

Religious exemptions, allowed in 46 states, are sometimes used by parents who simply do not want their children immunized. There’s even a website that tells parents how to legally claim a religious exemption even if they’re not religious.

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“The concern we’d have to look at is, are you going to have people try to evade it, and therefore we are in a situation where they won’t be truthful and we aren’t able to get immunization rates up?” asked Pan, who is a pediatrician. “We are open to discussions about religion exemptions, but at this point we have to see what people want to suggest along those lines.”

SB277 would eliminate the personal-belief exemption but still allow children to be exempt from school immunizations for medical reasons.

High immunization rates

Public health officials say immunization rates need to be high — at least 90 percent of the population — to prevent the spread of diseases and protect individuals who can’t receive vaccines because of age or illness.

Photo: Rich Pedroncelli / Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press

The California Senate voted Thursday, May 14, 2015, to .... If approved by the Assembly/Legislature and signed by the governor, parents could no longer cite personal beliefs or religious reasons to send unvaccinated children to private and public schools unless a childs health is in danger. Kelly Trutter, back to camera, joined others protesting against the measure at a Capitol rally in Sacramento, Calif., Wednesday, April 8, 2015. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

The California Senate voted Thursday, May 14, 2015, to .... If...

Parents filed 13,592 personal-belief exceptions this school year for California kindergartners, or 2.5 percent of the total kindergarten population, according to the California Department of Public Health. Some children were given conditional entry when a vaccine was not due yet, making the total vaccination rate 90.4 percent of the 535,332 students enrolled in kindergartens across the state.

SB277 sailed through the Senate’s health committee, but stalled last week in the education committee amid concerns that unvaccinated kids would be denied the education guaranteed them by the California constitution if they were barred from schools.

The bill was introduced in response to a multistate measles outbreak beginning in December that was traced to Disneyland. Many children who became ill were not fully vaccinated, leading to the largest outbreak in more than two decades. The state public health department said Friday that the measles outbreak was officially over.

“We have to worry about the next one,” Pan said. “The goal of the bill is to get our immunization rates high enough so people don’t have to worry about themselves and their children getting preventable diseases.”

Pan was successful last year in authoring the law that requires parents to obtain the health care provider’s signature prior to obtaining a personal-belief exemption. The law took effect in January and personal-belief exemptions decreased nearly 20 percent.

Opponents’ argument

The success of the law has been cited by opponents of the senator’s latest vaccine bill.

“This bill is not necessary,” said Jean Keese, spokeswoman for the California Coalition for Health Choice, a statewide group opposed to SB277. “California vaccination rates are rising, and personal-belief exemptions are going down. There is no crisis.”

Photo: Rich Pedroncelli, Associated Press

Sen. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento (center), accompanied by concerned mothers and their children, answers a question about his proposed legislation that would require parents to vaccinate all schoolchildren.

Sen. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento (center), accompanied by concerned...

Mississippi and West Virginia are the only states that do not allow personal or religious exemptions, instead allowing only a medical professional to approve an exemption for a child. In Mississippi, the immunization rate for children entering kindergarten is 97.5 percent, said Dr. Thomas Dobbs, the state epidemiologist with the Mississippi Department of Health.

“We are proud in Mississippi to have a strong immunization law,” Dobbs said. “We’ve been this way a long time. There are a small number of individuals who aren’t pleased with it, but it’s a small minority. We’ve had really good buy-in. We know immunizations are safe, and we know they have been extremely effective in saving lives.”

Dobbs said he has watched as other states try to tighten their restrictions on religious and personal belief exemptions, while Mississippi has had to fight off attempts to add them. The latest legislative efforts to add a philosophical exemption to Mississippi’s vaccine laws were thwarted this year.

“Most states have religious exemptions, and some are more restrictive than others,” Dobbs said. “If it’s like checking a box, that’s not really rigorous.”